The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1887-01-05
THE sENATORIAL QUEs-
Is IL a Crime % Earn wealth by
Honest E6Orf3

Much is said of late about who
shall succeed our senior Senator,
apd some of our own party friends
appear to have joined in the oppo-
sition of our opponents to the re-
election Ex-senator Camden. "What
private griefs they have, alas, we
know not,n but the Democracy OF
jackson county takes no stock in
such spirit of opposition. We
point with pride to the good name,
the energy, industry and abilities
which elevated both our Senators
to the positions they adorn, not be-
cause we have not many men in
the State as able and worthy rs
they, but because sense of justice
requires US to speak the truth, and
policy dictates that in offices of
this kind we should choose men
who, other things being equal,
have had the largest experiences in
the service in question. This pol
icy long shed lustre on the position
of Old Virginia in the Senate.
But they talk about STANDARD
Oil" and say that Senator Camden
is RICH" we'll. who would not like
to strike oil, and the laudable de.
sire 10 get money is not confined 10
Mr.. Camden and his friends, "by a
large majority"
We thought that man who had
20 long attended to his own affairs
with such constant zeal and ability
as to win success in field of en-
terprise here in our hills, where
thousands of others failed, might
safely he trusted with the affairs of
the public, and we were not nis.
taken in our man. The writer
voted for Mr. Camden for Senator
and has been often IN Washington
since and can safely assert that no
Senator of his age and service
stands higher, or is more respected
for his ability and sound practical
sense than Mr.. Camden, and there
fore his influence is great for good
among his associates in the Senate
and elsewhere; so that he has been
able to draw to his great public en-.
terprises for the material develop
ment of our State, men and means
from abroad. Men of capital have
in his judgment, and
therefore joined him in the several
great works he has accomplished
for the public good. Had he not
been a man of means, and one
whose abilities inspired the conf
dence of other men of means, his
usefulness would be far less. It
requires vast sums of money to
build railroads, and only men of
means can do it.
Shall we teach our school boys
that it is vile to have money, aud
to earn wealth by hon
est effort, and point them to our
men as examples to be
shunned3 1t will be dark day in
our land when the Democracy lends
an eager ear to the wolf cry of the
My acquaintance with Mr.. Cam
den dates back to 1860, when he
came, with many others to Writ
then my home, to prospect
for oil; and in 1861, when the war
broke out, it found him in a min
er's camp, on the banks of the Lit
tie Kanawha river, laboring 10 de-
velop the vast mineral resources of
his native Virginia: and, like a
man of sense, instead of joining in
the mad excitement of the times
he quietly worked on, and attend
ed to his own business, and il all
the other men on both sides had done
the came, who will say that it
would have been worse for the De-
mocracy and the countryf
He helped to build up a large
interest in the oil production, and
the great enterprises that resulted
therefrom, in distributing light
and fabrication all over the inhab-
tied earth, and which largely in
ured to the benefit of our State,
and especially to his adopted city
of Petersburg; and when the fla,
grant war had spent its force in the
field, but had left IN our land its
bitter fruits of party prescription
and vile Acknowledgement, he en-
tered the lists for a free ballot, and
the right to hold office, for the peo-
pie of the State; and who did more
or contributed m1re to the accom-.
plishment of that praise worthy re-
sult9
Defeated as the nominee of his
party for Governor by the perfdy
of some leaders, and the prejudice
of others, he was by his election to
the Senate, conseled with the truth